


First impressions

by Im_really_confused



Series: Joshua fucking Minyard-Josten [3]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Andrew Minyard is an Asshole, Developing Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Evil Plans, F/M, Father-Son Relationship, Guyliner, Happy Ending, I swear, Intimidation, Kid Fic, Knifeplay, M/M, Meet the Family, Meeting the Parents, Mental Health Issues, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Neil Josten & Andrew Minyard Adopt, Neil Josten Is an Idiot, Neil Josten is a Little Shit, Older Andrew Minyard, POV Andrew Minyard, Parents Neil Josten & Andrew Minyard, Pet Names, Piercings, Plans, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Protective Andrew Minyard, Protective Neil Josten, References to Depression, Scheming, Shovel Talk, Trans Character, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, andrew has piercings, andrew wears eyeliner, copious amounts of icecream, everyone is happy, joking about trauma, references to blowjobs, references to rape, why are they always eating in my fics?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:47:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26055940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Im_really_confused/pseuds/Im_really_confused
Summary: Andrew and Neil have found themselves with three kids, one adopted and two honourary.Nevertheless, when it's time to meet their children's significant others... well no one would like to be in that position
Relationships: Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, Original Character & Original Character
Series: Joshua fucking Minyard-Josten [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1849000
Comments: 32
Kudos: 209





	1. Josh

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation of Call the Doctor (I may need help) - part one of this series. This fic probably won't make sense if you don't read part one, but you do you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Andrew and Neil meet Josh's girlfriend, it goes as good as can be expected 
> 
> translation:  
> it goes horribly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mentioned briefly in part two (Table talk) that Andrew and Neil disastrous experience of meeting Joshes girlfriend, this is that 
> 
> WARNINGS:  
> Talk of mental health issues - anxiety, PTSD, personality disorders. Talk of school shootings (not descriptive, but mentioned). negative talk and stereotypes around mental health issues including the stigmas around mental health issues. someone being an ignorant idiot about mental health issues. 
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> some of the things discussed here may offend people, they aren't my personal views, just for the plot.  
> Please don't be offended if you are on or know someone on the Paleo diet, it was used for plot purposes entirely. Also please don't be offended if you do design tech, again plot purposes.

Neil hummed, his hips gently swaying as his hair curled from the steam being emitted from the stir fry currently under his careful watch.

Neil faltered in his swaying as one of their phones buzzed on the table, Neil still wasn’t sure who’s phone was who’s, he relied on Andrew grabbing one, and him taking the other. He was certain that they had probably swapped phones along the way, but he couldn’t be sure.

Neil nodded at Andrew to pick up the call as he added the last of his veggies into the stir fry. 

_Josh had better get home soon, otherwise, his diner will be cold._

Neil gave Andrew a curious look as Andrew hummed in acquiescence, before hanging up.

At Neil’s inquiring look, Andrew explained. “Josh has a girlfriend.”

Neil paused, “oh?”

Neil couldn’t help but recall what had been Josh’s ‘coming out’ with a grimace.

Neil hadn’t experienced much ‘coming out’ and he wasn’t too educated in the whole ordeal, but he could tell that Josh’s was probably one of the worst.

Andrew gave Neil a dry look, a look that said ‘do I really have to explain more? Why can’t you get what Josh’s 5-minute phone call was about in four words?'. 

Andrew let out a sigh, “he wants us to meet her”.

“oh,” Neil paused, “oh, no. No thanks”.

Andrew huffed in amusement, and he made his way over, gently holding Neil’s hips and resting his chin on Neil’s shoulder, before turning and whispering in Neil's ear.

“Too late Junkie.”

Neil turned around in Andrew's grip, nuzzling into Andrew's neck while whining out a “but I don’ wanna”.

Andrew scoffed, giving Neil a light smack on the arse, “they’ll be here in 5”. 

****

Andrew watched as Josh opened the door with the politeness of a newly adopted foster kid - this girl must be fucking gorgeous.

Josh shot a sheepish to Andrew before, sending a smile over his shoulder.

Plopping his bag on the ground, Josh pulled in a girl (who much to Andrew’s chagrin reminded him of Katelyn’s cheerleader friend, who celebrated one-month anniversary’s and who’s hobby was ‘Netflix and chill’).

Andrew watched as Josh gave him and Neil a pointed look, before taking a deep breath, “this is Chloe, my um- yeah, and Chloe these are my two dads’, Andrew and Neil,” Josh explained, pointing to them respectively, as his face grew increasingly red at Andrews amused stare.

Andrew nodded at Chloe as she sent him a blinding (yet nervous grin). Neil cleared his throat, “right, perfect timing, dinner’s ready”.

Andrew could admit that Josh and Chloe made quite a pair, Josh as white and short as a snowman, and Chloe with green eyes, golden skin, and golden hair that probably cost more than Andrew earnt in a day.

Andrew could only trust Josh’s decision-making skills (Andrew's brain decided this was a good time to remind him that teenage boys are notoriously bad decision-makers).

They quickly placed themselves around the table, Andrew opposite Josh, and Neil opposite Chloe (Neil had been anxious to make sure that Andrew didn’t sit opposite Chloe)

Neil cleared his throat as everyone began serving themselves, “so Chloe, how did you meet Josh?”

Chloe smiled politely as she folded her (paper) napkin in her lap, as if they were at a fucking restaurant, “well we were both in design tech together, and so we just started chatting,” Chloe giggled, sending a love-struck look toward an increasingly red Josh. 

Neil nodded, as Andrew couldn’t help but recall Josh desperately attempting to change from that class once he realised the whole class was filled with airheads, desperate to get an easy mark. Josh had gone in detail about how they spent two lessons going over different types of needles and how to thread them (Josh had looked close to tears when describing the class).

Neil gave Chloe a tight smile as he clearly remembered what Josh had told them about that class. Looking around the table Neil passed Chloe the bowl of rice, “here, it seems you didn’t get any rice”.

Chloe let out a small chuckle as she declined the bowl,” oh, no thanks. I’m on a paleo diet, I don’t eat rice”.

Andrew could see Neil sit up slightly, diets were something he could talk about, while it was probably his least favourite Exy topic, it was _still_ any Exy topic.

_Fucking Junkie_

Neil quickly finished chewing before he began to speak, “oh? I’ve never heard of that one. Is it a high protein diet? I’ve never really focused on gaining muscles, so my diets have always had carbs in them,” Neil exploded; Andrew could feel his relief at having something to talk about.

Even after being abused by both parents, on the run from the mob for 10 years and relentlessly abused and tortured on multiple occasions, Neil still referred to any socially awkward situation as ‘the worst thing he’s ever lived through’.

Chloe let out an awkward chuckle, “no actually, it’s a diet which is foods that could be found from hunting and gathering as our ancestors did,” Chloe let out an amused chuckle, as Andrew watched Josh slowly shrink down into his seat, “ it usually includes lean meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.”

Andrew leaned forward interrupting her before she could go on, “why?”

Chloe looked startled, “oh, I suppose if our ancestors could survive on that, why do we need processed food?”

Andrew’s brows creased, “so there’s no political motivation behind it? Not wanting to only eat food that hasn’t been tainted by our capitalistic society and overproduction of all food products, and fighting against that by eating food that doesn’t create waste and ultimately harm the environment?”

Chloe’s mouth fell open, her eyes widening before letting out a little giggle, “I literally have no idea what you just said. I just eat it because my ancestors survived off it, why can’t I?”

Andrew’s eyebrows twitched as he looked over to a fully shellshocked Neil. Neil knew that people went on diets other than health reasons, abstractly, but Andrew wasn’t sure he fully believed it until now.

Andrew turned back to Chloe, seeing Josh out of the corner of his eye, giving Chloe a subtle, but strange look.

Andrew wasn’t done, not yet, “do you know why your ancestors survived on so little food variation?”

Chloe’s eyes went wide as she shook her head, watching Andrew with wide eyes as he explained, “because their brains were so small, our brains are significantly larger and smarter than their brains were back then. So, if they ate what you eat with the size of our brains, then they wouldn’t survive. Brains use 10% of our body’s energy, which is a lot. Basically, they were only able to survive on so little food because their brains were so small.”

Andrew may have exaggerated a bit to push the point, but the science was right.

As light on with the brain cells she was, Chloe could tell when she was being insulted.

Chloe harrumphed before, before perking up, “you said our brains are bigger now, right? well, maybe that’s why people have mental health issues.”

Andrew was almost impressed with the idiotic things she was saying. At Neil’s confused look Chloe explained, “well maybe our bodies aren’t built to handle our big brains, so, people go insane.”

“insane?” Andrew echoed.

Chloe shrugged, “well yeah, that’s what’s happening really”

Andrew stared at Chloe for a while before turning to look at Josh. Clearly, they hadn’t gotten to this topic yet, because Josh was looking a Chloe as if she’d just said people are mentally ill because their brains are too big for their bodies.

Oh, wait she did.

Now Andrew understood, this was a ‘ _you’re hot, let’s make out relationship’_ , not a ‘ _let’s get to know each other and discuss our values and beliefs, then make out_ ’ relationship.

Andrew scraped with plate clean before looking back at Chloe, “mentally ill people aren’t insane, but it can lead to insanity”

Chloe chuckled, “yeah well we’ll never know”

Andrew glanced over to Neil and Josh who both gave him a little nod, “well I would, I’m mentally ill, in fact, I would hazard a guess and say you’re the only person at this table who _isn’t_ mentally ill.”

Chloe scoffed, giving Andrew a judgy look, before turning to Josh. Chloe paused when she noted Josh’s serious expression.

“Really?” Chloe gasped, “why are you at school if you’re so ill?”

Josh choked a little on his water, panting a little as he caught his breath, “what?” 

Chloe shifted uncomfortably in her seat, “well I don’t want you to shoot up the school or something.”

Josh gaped at Chloe, “shoot up the school? I have Anxiety and PTSD, not a personality disorder!”

Chloe shrugged sheepishly, shifting away on her seat “well someone who’s gonna shoot up the school wouldn’t admit to it”

Josh gaped, before he shuttered off, turning to face Andrew, but no longer processing what was in front of him. His jaw was clenched and shoulder stiff as Chloe starred skeptically at him

Andrew turned to Chloe, any attempt of not glaring was gone.

Neil stood from the table, looking at both Andrew and Josh, he himself looking tense, “I think it would be best if you were to go Chloe.”

Chloe gaped, turning to look at Josh, “are we breaking up?”

Josh’s brows furrowed as he turned to Chloe, “would you stay with your boyfriend after he said you ‘are gonna shoot up the school’?” Josh scowled.

Chloe faltered, “I didn’t really mean it”.

Josh turned away, “please just go Chloe.”

Andrew watched tensely as Chloe picked up her bag and left, shutting the door behind her.

Josh stared hard at the table, purposefully avoiding his dads’ pointed looks, “I’m sorry”, he muttered.

Andrew grumbled, “the only person you should be apologising to is yourself, for not talking to her before sucking face.”

Josh grimaced, “I finally get it when people say, ‘don’t think with your dick’.”

Andrew hummed, getting up from the table, before grabbing their three respective cartons of ice cream. Andrew’s being a double chocolate chip, Josh’s being caramel cookie dough swirl and Neil’s being lemon sorbet.

The three of them curled up on the couch, watching reruns of old cooking shows.

It was a while later when Neil spoke, “I’m glad she left, I was wondering what to give her for dessert.”

There were a few more moments of silence before Andrew spoke, “I think we have some leftover cranberries from when we make Christmas pudding.”

Neil hummed while shaking his head, “no, Kevin ate them when he was over.”

Andrew shrugged, eating another mouthful of ice cream, staring longingly at the indulgent dessert on the TV.

Josh sat up slightly as he cleared his throat, “remind me not to date again.”

Andrew stopped to give Josh a dry look, “what, so you can blame us when it inevitably goes to shit?”

Josh chuckled lightly, “yep.”

Andrew let out a heavy sigh as he turned back to the Tv.

_Thank fuck that was over_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO? what do you think?
> 
> I love to hear your thoughts, please feel free to comment!
> 
> I want to do a little fic of Andrew and Neil meeting Josh's, Ida's, and maybe even Marcus's S.O. Or even just people meeting Neil and Andrew for the first time (parent-teacher interviews???)
> 
> please comment any ideas or requests you have
> 
> you can find me on [my Tumblr](https://im-really-confused121.tumblr.com) come stalk me or send requests :)
> 
> NEXT UP:  
> Neil and Andrew scaring the shit out of Ida's boyfriends *evil grin* i can't wait


	2. Ida -  Scheming (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ida decides it's time for her boyfriends (or boy toys as Andrew likes to call them), to meet Andrew and Neil, AKA the family.   
> Andrew and Neil brew some plans, and everyone wants in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok this took me so long to write because I had such high expectations for this au scene and wanted to do it right (I hope it’s ok – holy fuck the scene is so great it in my head I could never do it justice), I also have had literally no time with exams, and when I did write I would get so side-tracked with little tidbits (I’m sorry if it drags on – I am also procrastinating writing the important parts). 
> 
> yes this is in two parts, hopefully, the second part won't take long, I'm already like 3k words in and maybe half done 
> 
> I split this up into two chapters because otherwise, it would be REALLY long, and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. 
> 
> I hope you like it ??!? let me know what you think 
> 
> Requested by:  
> Alexandria95: "Now I want to see Andrew and Neil both looking forward to making these guys terrified, and making a day of it..." 
> 
> Nobody13: "I want to see Andrew Terrify the 3 boys if possible and Neil too." 
> 
> and anon on Tumblr: "hey... was wondering if you could write something about Andrew and Neil intimidating Ida's boyfriends????"
> 
> WARNING:  
>  intimidation, knife skills and use of knives for intimidation references to abuse, sexual abuse, and rape, references to mental health issues, unhealthy coping mechanisms (joking about trauma- I dunno if it's healthy or not uhhh), references to sex (blowjobs), and body piercings, tell me if I need to add anything or message me if you have any questions.

Andrew watched bemused as Neil shuffled into the living room, with a wide smile on his face.

Neil quickly sat himself down next to Andrew on the couch, before turning to look at him.

“Guess what,” Neil grinned, excitedly.

Andrew rolled his eyes, staring blankly back at Neil

Neil wasn’t discouraged, as his eyes began to sparkle, “Ida invited her boyfriends around for dinner this Saturday”.

Andrew’s brows creased as he gave Neil a long look, “that is nothing to be excited about.”

Neil’s grin morphed into a smirk, a smirk that Andrew associated with a good time and some morally ambiguous ideas, and one memorable time when they had escaped with a couple of bruises and a police warning (they both agreed it was worth it).

“Andrew,” Neil began, “Ida told me they were already kind of scared of us, they have no fucking clue _who_ we are, _and_ Ida has triple the chance of being heartbroken” Neil finished with an intent look on his face.

Andrew hummed, “let’s have a roast for dinner, we need to practice our carving.”

****

Andrew swung his legs as he sat on the kitchen counter, silently cursing as he peeled an apple with his knife, it was unnecessary, but impressive when done correctly.

Andrew placed the knife and the apple to the side for Neil later, before picking up his phone and calling Aaron. 

As per usual Aaron picked up with a disgruntled, “what?”

“Nice to hear from you too, brother,” Andrew drawled.

Aaron scoffed, “at least I say something when I pick up the phone.”

Andrew rolled his eyes; he did not call Aaron to annoy him (though it was something he liked to do in his spare time)

Andrew hummed in dismiss, “Ida is having his boy toys around this Saturday”.

Aaron sighed, “what? And you want help in tormenting them and scaring the piss out of them?”

“Yes.”

There was silence, before a quiet “oh”

Andrew waited for Aaron to continue.

Moments later there was a dry chuckle, “yeah sure, why not. I’ve been getting some great one-liners’ and inspiration from the clinic.”

There was another pause before Aaron continued, “should we do the ‘psycho druggo’ act? It’s been a while.”

Andrew hummed in agreement, before hanging up. Andrew considered inviting around the foxes but decided that it would be a treat for them when they think they’ve survived the shovel talk.

Little do they know; the shovel talk never ends.

****

Andrew tugged on Josh’s shirt as he slowly stumbled past the couch, his hair a mess and cheek overrun by pillow creases and some dried drool.

Andrew was proud to say that Josh had adopted Andrew’s love for naps and had taken to them with the enthusiasm of any teenager when given the option to nap.

However, Andrew couldn’t say much in terms of Josh’s beauty when napping, maybe 10 years ago Josh would have made a joke about it being a good defense against unwanted night-time visitors, but he refrained.

Josh stumbled as he met resistance, flopping down into the cushion next to Andrew, grunting before slouching down into the couch.

Josh rubbed his eyes, before he cleared his throat, “what?”

Andrew rolled his eyes, just a year ago, you would be hard-pressed to find Josh leave behind any mess, let alone slob around after school and have naps. Now, however, you could regularly hear Neil cursing out Andrew and Josh as they left stray shoes and socks lying around (and them all cursing out Sir when she inevitably chewed on and wrecked their socks – Andrew often wore Neil’s socks, so Neil was doubly annoyed).

Andrew rolled his eyes at Josh, “Ida’s boy toys are coming this Saturday, you need to prepare”.

Josh frowned before sitting upright, “really? I think Ida may have mentioned it on a call or something, but I wasn’t really paying attention,” Josh muttered with a considering look, before turning back to Andrew, his brows furrowed, “what do you need me to prepare for?”.

Andrew squinted at Josh, huffing slightly, before holding at dead stare at Josh. Josh rolled his eyes before turning to face Andrew and staring straight back at Andrew.

Andrew briefly wondered in the back of his head that maybe he should have waited a little longer after Josh’s nap to talk to him, but he was in it now, he’ll just have to deal with it. Regret was fruitless.

It was maybe minutes later (it felt like centuries to Andrew), that Josh suddenly shot up, a wide grin on his face, “oh! Sorry, I just woke up. Excellent, I knew this would happen at some point. But honestly, the job is already half done, they are already pretty piss scared of you two, from what I hear” Josh gasped out, in excitement, before grimacing.

Josh groaned pressing a palm to his head, “sorry that was a lot for being inactive for about 3 hours,” Josh shook his head before continuing, “anyway, they were already pretty scared of you two, to begin with because they’re already kind of scared of slash respectful slash intimated by Ida– rightly so – and so they have correctly come to the conclusions that you two must be pretty fucking intimidating and impressive for Ida to respect and look up to you two so much.”

Andrew frowned as he stared at Josh slightly bewildered, “I’m certain you could have conveyed that with a nod and a few choice words.”

Josh grinned, “but you’d miss my voice too much.”

Andrew didn’t deign that with a response, _fuck_ _if anyone thought he was going to admit to that._

****

Today was the day.

Neil would say Andrew was giddy with excitement, Andrew would say he was discerningly interested in the outcome of meeting Ida’s boy toys. _Interested_ , that’s it.

Neil gave Andrew an amused look in the mirror as Andrew mussed up his hair. Andrew scowled, he did this every morning, just because he happened to be spending a little more time doing it means _nothing,_ it’s the weekend, he’s allowed to take his time. 

Andrew dropped his arms, watching through the mirror as Neil patted his face dry, before reaching for another a tub, and scooping out a bit, calmly tracing his scars.

Neil paused, and looked to Andrew, “what?”

Andrew frowned, “nothing”.

Neil squinted, “why are you still here?”

Andrew turned away, his jaw tightening, “no reason”.

Neil stared curiously at Andrew, his fingers distractedly rubbing the burns of his cheek, before pausing as he turned to Andrew with a knowing grin, “you’re waiting for me to leave, aren’t you! You’re embarrassed!”

Andrew scowled, flicking Neil, “shut up.”

Neil threw his head back, his shoulders shaking as he let out a deep laugh, “you’re such a dork, go on darling, do your thing. I’ll see it eventually”

Andrew huffed, scowling and turning away, Neil however, had already caught the red tips of Andrew's ears and the slowly spreading red down his neck.

Neil grinned as he caught Andrew’s eyes in the mirror, grinning as he leaned forward gently biting the tip of Andrew’s ear, letting his hot breath leave a trail of goosebumps, “I’ve never said, I’m sure your already aware that I think this, but, you look really hot when you dress yourself up like this.”

Andrew didn’t let off any outward reaction, but Neil knew better than to look for that. Neil turned his head away to hide a grin as he felt Andrew’s breath hitch, then let out a shuddering breath.

Neil felt more than heard, Andrew growl, rumble’s resonating through his back, before he quickly spun around.

Andrew watched Neil’s eyes dilate as he gently grasped Neil’s hips, tracing his thumb just along the bone above the waistband of his shorts.

Neil’s grin slowly dropped as he stared back at Andrews, his breaths now coming out in shallow puffs. Andrew smirked as he leaned forward running his teeth along Neil’s jaw, tracing up to his ear, “maybe if today goes well I’ll blow you with my lip ring in”.

Andrew stepped back, ignoring Neil’s whine and reaching hand, lightly patting Neil on the arse, “come on, go start breakfast, and I’ll clean up. I won’t take too long.”

Neil blinked, his mouth agape, as his blissfully content smile morphed into an annoyed scowl. Neil grumbled, roughly adjusting himself in his pants, “fucking tease,” he grumbled, giving Andrew a light peck, before purposefully swaying his hips as Andrew watched his arse out the bathroom.

Andrew huffed, fixing his spiked septum piercing and lip rings in place. Andrew let out a long sigh, before reaching for the eyeliner Andrew had to pretend, he didn’t own.

_It was going to be a long day._

****

Andrew opened the door to Aaron, except it was Aaron with stylishly mussed hair that was identical to Andrew’s to the untrained eye, all black clothes, the most piercing’s Andrew’s seen Aaron wear since he was 17 and went through his ‘fuck the world, fuck everybody, and especially fuck authority’ phase, and twin girls that were so identical that even Andrew hesitated for a moment.

Andrew could tell that Anna and Amy were amused by Aarons's new look, they obviously hadn’t seen him dressed like this before and kept on shooting intrigued looks towards various holes in Aaron's face and ears that they weren’t aware of.

Andrew for a moment wished he and Aaron had grown up together, purely because it’s much easier to be identical when your pre-pubescent and haven’t started your ‘phases’ yet. Andrew let himself contemplate the shit they would’ve gotten up to, then immediately dismissed the thought.

They get up to more than enough shit now.

Anna and Amy were to put it lightly, completely identical, and uncomfortably creepy.

This façade only held up for moments though, before Amy let out a shriek of excitement, “could ya tell who was who?”

Andrew gave Aaron a long look, as he hid a pained sigh, Andrew had a feeling that Aaron and Katelyn had suffered through many hours of excitement and ‘guessing’ who was who.

Andrew shot Amy and indulgent look, “for a moment I thought I was hallucinating”.

Amy and Anna let out excited giggles, running forward to receive a hug from both him and Neil.

Anna broke away from the hug and looked seriously up at Andrew, “this girl was annoying me in class, so I did your glare and she cried.”

Andrew restrained what would have been a proud smirk, giving an irritated Aaron an amused look.

Andrew looked back towards Anna, “show me”.

Anna stepped back and cleared her throat, her face dropped, completely wiped of emotion and her brows quivering slightly in concentration.

Andrew nodded, “good, try and relax your brows and drop your eyes like you’re really tired.”

Anna frowned in concentration, slowly letting her eyebrows relax and eyes droop, she was scarily good.

Andrew nodded, “yeah, remember not to use it too much, if you use it too often it loses its impact.”

Anna let out a little proud grin, before nodding seriously and turning to Amy with a wider grin.

Amy giggled, “that was really good, you looked _just_ like Drew”.

Amy turned to Andrew seriously, “kids don’t be mean to us ever because they know that Anna can be scary, but they thought it was just Anna, but then me and Anna tied on the fitness test in gym, and now people know that I’m just as scary, but just smile more”. 

Andrew nodded, internally grimacing at Amy’s bad grammar. Andrew doesn’t correct her, he knows she knows, she’s always just had so much to say and speaks like she’s running out of time.

Aaron stepped forward interrupting Amy’s speech, “but we know it’s not nice to scare people, and we know that it’s important to have friends, right?”

Anna and Amy nodded enthusiastically, “yeah! We have heeeeaaaaps of friends,” Anna yelled, stretching her arms wide as Anna grinned in agreement.

Anna bounced on her toes, interrupting Amy, “people are scared of us because we are super nice to _everyone,_ so people know that if we get annoyed with them, we mean it. We don’t be scary unless it’s important, like-like our friend Sara was being bullied, and so we’d be scary and then tell the teacher”.

Andrew nodded along, giving Aaron an amused look. It seemed they were taking after uncle Neil and wreaking havoc throughout the school. Andrew could admit it was a skill to be loved by so many people while holding the respect and fear of those around you. It was a skill that Aaron and Andrew had not mastered.

Andrew supposed it was all about moderation – you needed to be moderately nice and moderately scary – get a perfect balance and you’re in the sweet spot. People will love and adore you; they will speak in praises of you and seek out your company, but they’ll never forget the damage you could do.

Andrew was never good when it came to moderation. 

But that was aside the point, today they were here to intimidate, and scope out. They may be a mess of a family, but they all know how to protect the ones they love.

Andrew stepped to the side, closing the door behind them, walking into the Kitchen where Neil was polishing and sharpening all their knives.

Neil watched as Andrew entered, two identical girls in his wake, both with deceivingly cute pigtails and matching grins. Turning to give Aaron an obligatory nod, and Katelyn an amused grin.

As much as Neil may have underestimated Katelyn, to begin with, Neil was no longer dumb enough to think someone boring and helpless would marry into the Minyard family.

Neil would never admit this – actually he probably would, just to annoy Aaron – but he was definitely more intimidated by Katelyn than by Aaron.

Aaron was like one of those dogs that had a loud booming bark and made people cross the street when passing the house. Scary at first, but once you get to know him, you question why you were ever scared of him.

Katelyn was like one of those cute little yappy dogs that people love to cuddle and take pictures of but get ripped to shreds anytime they come near.

Neil had long promised himself to never piss off Katelyn, he had witnessed her go off before he and Andrew were married and both Aaron and Andrew were in the hospital, and the staff wouldn’t let Neil in. That was also probably the moment Andrew fully accepted her into the family.

Katelyn nodded at Anna and Amy’s request to go play outside, before taking a seat on the barstool watching all three of them with interest, “so, what the game plan?”

Neil let out a sharp grin, receiving an indulgent look from Andrew before letting an excited grin.

Neil clasped his hands, taking a deep breath, “ok, so Josh has just gone to pick up Marcus they should be back soon. Ida will text when they arrive, Josh will answer the door, and give a ‘warning’ to her boyfriends.”

Aaron interrupted, with a frown, “what are their names?”

Neil paused, hesitating, “I don’t know, but we’ll find out, we plan on getting their names wrong anyway.”

Aaron nodded in acceptance, humming lightly.

Neil nodded to himself before starting up again, saying Neil was excited was like saying Trump is corrupt, it didn’t even begin to cover it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT DO YOU THINK??!!?
> 
> please comment, I love to hear your thoughts and opinions, they really motivate me. 
> 
> what do you want to happen next??? I'm in the middle of writing it, so any requests I can definitely try and implement 
> 
> I try to reply to all comments, so thank you all that have followed along with the series, commented and kudos's my works, I see you and appreciate every single one of you. 
> 
> say hi to me on [my Tumblr](https://im-really-confused121.tumblr.com)


	3. Ida - meet the boy toys (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's time for Ida's boys to meet the family, at this point you can only hope they make it out with all their fingers, Andrew and Neil scheming makes for a day to remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow! thankyou so much for the responses to part 1.
> 
> thankyou @alexandria95 for giving me such great ideas (even if you did steal it from B99 :) - "can imagine them having a mid-scare group meeting in the kitchen and Josh asking "how are we looking?" and someone answering "Sexy and terrifying, but not like we're trying too hard. Like, sure, we're trying, but it's almost effortless" and them all being like good good that's the plan. God I love these assholes"
> 
> hehe I love them too 
> 
> this took AGES to write, so much longer than I intended, but I just couldn't leave anything out. eek I'm so excited for this chapter...
> 
> WARNINGS:  
> knife play, intimidation, implications to murder, implications to organised crime, reference to abuse, reference to rape, reference to drug use, and discussion of transsexuality.

Josh bolted upright from the barstool when his phone buzzed, “they’re here,” he announced causing everyone to put down whatever they were doing and falling into character.

Josh grinned as he heard a knock on the door, and some panicked whispering, Josh paused for five seconds before swinging the door open.

There on the front step was Ida, with three boys lined nervously behind her.

Josh grinned, greeting them all before giving Ida a hug, Ida held onto Josh tight as she furiously whispered in his ear, “how bad is it gonna be?”

Josh laughed silently, “it will be their only surviving legacy.”

Ida sighed, “fuck”.

While Ida knew they would never push boundaries, they certainly knew how to toe the line.

Stepping back, Ida turned to her boyfriends and she introduced Josh, “this is Josh, one out of two of my best friends, and honorary brother.”

Marcus popped up from around the corner, walking over to the door, “Hello, I’m Marcus I would be the second-best friend and the guy that liked Ida for a bit but then got to know her”.

Josh let out a surprised laugh, as Ida rolled her eyes, “shut the fuck up, you were just scared of me, and was too emotionally stunted to realise it - besides you’re practically my brother as well”.

Marcus laughed, placing a hand over his heart, “aww how sweet, you don’t think I’m emotionally stunted anymore.”

Ida huffed, pulling Marcus into a tight hug, who quickly picked up on her nerves and rubbed a soothing hand up and down her back. Ida sighed relaxing into his embrace, before pulling away with an appreciative smile.

The three of them chuckled quietly shooting concerned looks towards Ida, as one of the three boyfriends spoke up, a vaguely concerned but amused smile on his face, “so this is what you meant by don’t get concerned when we joke about our concerningly traumatic childhoods.”

Josh grinned, shooting Ida an amused look, “you warned them about that?”

Ida rolled her eyes, “obviously, not many people can make jokes about being abandoned for the 6th time when someone forgets to make you a cup of tea”.

Josh hummed tilting his head to the side in consideration, nodding, “s’pose you’re right”.

Marcus grinned, “It’s all about context, it _was_ funny.”

Ida rolled her eyes, turning back to her boyfriends, “welcome to my family, it may answer a few questions you had about me”.

All three of them let out a heave of a laugh, their faces clearly agreeing with that statement as they eyed Josh and Marcus with interest.

“oh,” Ida exclaimed, letting out a sheepish grin, “this is Oliver,” Ida explained pointing to a guy with a riot of brown curls and glasses, fiddling a white button-up and skinny jeans drowning under a large bomber jacket that looked suspiciously like a jacket Ida owned.

Oliver grinned sheepishly giving them a polite wave, before Ida continued, “Noah,” pointing to a guy with a nervous grin wearing ripped blue jeans a floral button up and beanie.

“and finally, Willy”, Ida finished, directed towards the last guy with a bleached blond buzz cut, a pinstriped oversized button-up, and cuffed baggy pants.

Josh sighed to himself, Andrew has always had the shits with the ever-changing fashion industry, he was sure to have some thoughts about what they were wearing.

Josh and Marcus nodded politely shaking the hands of all of them, before inviting them in. Josh paused as he shut the front door, “just a warning,” Josh hesitated to nibble on his lower lip, “my dads’ are pretty intense but don’t worry, they won’t hurt you unless you give them a reason to,” Josh finished, grinning as if it was comforting information, Josh supposed it was technically true anyway.

Josh started towards the doorway before pausing, shooting a concerned look over his shoulder, “oh, _never_ ask how tall they are, and _never_ touch them without warning or asking, you may lose an arm”.

Josh smiled pretending he didn’t see their nervous looks, directing them through to the kitchen to where Neil was cutting up an onion with alarming speed and accuracy for someone not looking at their fingers while nodding in agreement to Katelyn who was talking about the startling similarity between cutting pork and cutting skin.

Next to them was Aaron and Andrew, Aaron who was ‘forcefully’ shaking pills into Andrew's hand, purposefully speaking a little loud, allowing then to catch Aaron’s mutterings, “for fucks sake, take your pills, the court system is a bitch I don’t wanna have to go through that shit again and _lie_ again.”

Ida silently gaped, before sending a grinning Josh and Marcus a severely unimpressed look, it was gonna be a day to remember.

Moments later they were noticed, Andrew rolled his eyes swallowing the pills (tics tacs) whole.

Neil looked up towards the small congregation of people in the entryway, stopping chopping and stabbing the knife into the chopping board with ease, giving them a polite smile, before washing his hands.

Neil walked forwards, wiping his hands on his jeans, “nice to meet you three, I’m Neil,” he finished, with a sharp grin.

Katelyn let out a little giggle, stepping forward, “hello, I’m Katelyn, I’m Ida’s aunt, married to Aaron,” she explained, pointing to Aaron who was sitting next to Andrew, both with matching blank faces. 

Andrew stood up, stepping to stand at Neil’s side a hand on the small of his back, introducing himself, “Andrew,” eyes flicking between the three of them.

Andrew watched, as to plan, when the three of them strayed to Andrews and Aarons large build, emphasised by Andrew's black armbands and tight shirt.

If they made sure to hit the gym a couple more times than regular this week, no one had to know.

Aaron stood, calmly approaching, looking the three of them up and down, “these are my daughters Anna and Amy,” Aaron started, his voice the same pitch and timbre as Andrews, giving no indication as to who was who. He directed their gazes to Anna and Amy, who both stared blankly up at them with matching expressions.

Amy stepped forwards, pushing her hand out to shake their hands, Anna following closely behind.

The three of them grinned indulgently, shaking their hands in greeting.

Oliver chuckled lightly, “that’s very polite of you two”.

Anna, looked up at Oliver, a calm expression on her face, “daddy says people let their guard down when you’re polite to people, then it’s a lot easier to do what needs to be done.”

Oliver paused, hesitating as Willy and Noah silently gaped.

Ida cleared her throat, stepping forwards and giving hugs to Anna and Amy, before giving Aaron a quick squeeze and a nod, moving onto to Katelyn who gave her a tight hug and a knowing grin, before shuffling over to Neil and Andrew who both held her for a moment soothing any nerves she held and giving her a kiss on the forehead.

Neil gave Ida a knowing grin, gently grasping her face, “it’ll be fine, we don’t want them to run away and disappear, we just want them to know that if they hurt you, they should run away and change their identity”.

Ida huffed lightly, “yeah I know,” she gave them both a tight grin before giving them both a kiss on the cheek.

Stepping back, Ida introduced Oliver, Willy, and Noah. They all took turns introducing themselves before Neil interrupted clapping his hands, jerking them out of their stupor.

“Ok, lets head through to the backyard, the barbeque should be finished heating up by now,” Neil grinned, pressing a kiss to Andrew's cheek, before guiding them all to the backyard.

Neil opened the back door, laughing gently as Anna and Amy glided past him, yelling out dibs, “let’s play cops and mobsters! I dibs mobsters!” Amy yelled.

Anna pouted, “but I don’t wanna be the bad guy, you’re always the mobster.”

Neil chuckled, rolling his eyes with a ‘kids am I right?’ look, pretending he didn’t notice their alarmed expressions.

Neil opened walked over to their bar fridge, “would you guys like a drink?”

Noah nibbled his lip, “oh, um water is good thanks”.

Neil popped his head from behind the fridge, “you sure? We have a beer, wine, spirits, or soda”.

Noah faltered, “oh, um we’re not 21”.

Neil gave them a dry look, with a small smile, “yeah I know, so what would you like?”

Willy shrugged, “could I have a beer?”

Neil handed him a beer, looking towards the other two, Noah also accepted a beer, while Oliver stuck with a can of coke.

Neil walked them over to the barbeque carefully placing the meat wrapped in foil on the heat, “so what are you guys studying?”

Neil nodded along as Oliver revealed both he and Willy were film students, and Noah a physics and art major.

Conversation trickled along, as Neil nodded along politely, listening to Willy complain about his work not responding to his texts and was being in general, a bad manager.

Neil frowned, pouring himself what looked like a glass of vodka (it was water in an old bottle), and swallowed it back casually, pointedly not noticing their alarmed expressions.

Turning to Willy he frowned in consideration, “I know some people that could deal with that for you, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind they’ve been quiet recently”.

Willy frowned confused, “Who, a lawyer? I don’t think it’s that bad yet. Thanks though,” Willy smiled.

Neil gave him an amused smiled, his teeth bared, as it slowly dropped into a smirk, as Neil chuckles to himself, “hmm, no not a lawyer, just some colleagues of my father who owe me a thing or two”.

Noah, frowned confused, “what did your father do?”

Neil’s smile dropped, and gave them a serious look, “nothing that should concern you,” Neil paused, a sharp grin stretching his scars grotesquely, “not unless you’re more into the unsavoury side of town then I first assumed”.

Oliver not quite catching on to Neil’s serious tone, “ha, sounds like you’re offering to get him killed.”

Neil paused, squinting slightly at Oliver, “ha, right yeah. How ridiculous,”

Oliver paused, his eyes wide, “you were joking right?”

“Joking about what?” Andrew interrupted, peering into the barbeque, “Neil doesn’t do jokes”.

Willy let out a tight chuckle, “um, Neil just offered some friends that owe him a favour.”

Andrew perked up, shotting Willy and intrigued look, “what did you do?”

Willy looked between Neil and Andrew alarmed, “um, nothing… I was just saying that my boss is a bit of a dick.”

Andrew hummed, grabbing an apple from the bowl of fruit on the table next to him, and slid a knife out of his sleeves distractedly peeling the skin off the apple in layers so thin you could see through them. Andrew sliced out a wedge and stabbed it on the tip of the knife, feeding it to Neil.

Andrew shrugged, “save the favour, for something else, I could deal with that easy”.

Neil hummed in response, “well, the offers there if you need it”.

Josh came out through the door beside them, stealing a slice of apple from Andrew's knife, “what are you talking about?”

Neil rolled his eyes, “Willy’s boss is being a dick, I offered to help take care of it”.

Josh hummed, nodding, “you mean uncle Stew? Wow, what’d he do to deserve that?” Josh hummed, a thoughtful expression on his face, “haven’t seen uncle Stew in a while, it’d be nice to see him, I miss his stories”.

Josh shook his head, turning to Neil and Andrew, “oh, they need you two in the kitchen, “Aaron’s already snapped the garlic crusher in half in frustration”.

Andrew rolled his eyes, “again? For fucks sake, and they say I need to be on meds”.

Neil closed the lid of the barbeque following Andrew into the kitchen.

Josh stayed behind, giving the three boys a grin, “so how are you guys feeling?”

Noah forced out a laugh, “um, you certainly weren’t kidding when you said they were intense.”

“heh, yeah,” Oliver muttered, as Willy nodded in agreement.

Josh gave them a knowing grin, “Ida made them promise to be on their best behaviour”. 

Willy frowned, peering over Josh’s shoulder into the kitchen, “does Aaron break the garlic crusher often?”

Josh huffed in amusement, as willy looped an arm around Noah’s waist, “yeah, he’s a menace in the kitchen, the only thing he can cook, would probably place him in prison for an extended period of time, so he just leaves it to everybody else,” Josh shrugged.

Noah’s mouth dropped, a little, his brows furrowing, Josh laughed lightly at his expression, “ha, don’t worry, he only did that in his teens, he’s been cold turkey since he was 17 when Andrew locked him in a bathroom for a week”.

Oliver’s brows raised, “17?”

Josh frowned nodding, “yeah, Aaron’s mum was pretty negligent and abusive, she discovered that Aaron would stay quiet if he was too high to say anything about the abuse”.

Josh watched as all of their eyes widened, their brows furrowing in shock. Josh was glad he got permission to tell them about this, Andrew and Aaron would have probably punched them if they saw their sympathetic faces.

Willy’s head, tilted to the side, “Aaron’s mum?”

Josh frowned,” hm?”, before his face cleared, “oh, right. Yeah, their biological mum gave them up to the foster system, but then felt guilty and took one back – Aaron – and Andrew was raised in the foster system, they met when they were 16.”

Noah, grimaced, “I imagine it’s hard for Andrew knowing what his brother suffered though.”

Josh huffed, “well neither of them had it easy, one neglected, abused, and an addict by age 14, the other neglected, abused and raped.”

Oliver’s mouth dropped, his face horrified, “holy shit”.

Josh grimaced, “yeah, so naturally Andrew adopted me, another foster kid who had been neglected, abused, and raped.”

Josh, watched as all their eyes widened, “shit, I’m so sorry,” Noah muttered, his eyes wide.

Josh gave him a tight smile, “there’s nothing for you to apologise for, but thank you, none the less.”

There was a tense silence as Josh watched them grasp for words. Eventually, Willy cleared his throat, “so when did Neil and Andrew adopt you?”

Josh smiled, “oh well, my teacher noticed I was clearly getting abused somehow, and eventually I let it slip I was being raped. She took things into her own hands and took me to a doctor ‘cos I was bleeding out my ass, and the doctor she took me too was Aaron,” Josh paused, giving them a faint smile at their bewildered looks.

Oliver frowned, “Aaron’s a doctor?”

Josh let out a little huff, “yeah, the best doctor I had ever been to. He didn’t bullshit, he never crossed boundaries, and knew what was up. He gave me his number to call if there was an emergency, and as you can guess there was an emergency, yadda yadda yadda met Andrew and Neil, and voila! I was adopted at age 16, so 3 years now”.

Noah smiled softly at Josh, “I’m glad you found your family.”

Josh grinned back, “yeah me too, honestly, the chances of me finding Andrew and Neil were so low. I mean even just knowing how they met says something about how lucky the whole situation is.”

At Willy’s curios look, Josh explained.

Grinning Josh explained, “they were on the same college Exy team,” he chuckled lightly, before continuing, “the first time they met Neil was on the run from his father and Andrew was still on probation, they’ve come a long way.”

Willy’s eyes, widened, “should I even ask?”

Josh laughed, “ Andrew sent a bunch of homophobes who was beating up his cousin to hospital and was out on court-mandated drugs, and as for Neil,” Josh paused in consideration, “well, he’s fine now, his father was killed, but for a while there it was touch and go”.

Oliver looked vaguely queasy, “touch and go?”

Josh hummed, “yeah, he got kidnapped and tortured a couple of times, much to Andrew’s dismay, but eventually uncle Stew came through.”

Noah looked vaguely faint, “oh my gosh, you’re serious, aren’t you?”

Josh sighed, giving them a little break, feeling bad for them, “hey honestly, it’s nothing to worry about. I wouldn’t be telling you if I didn’t get permission from them, and I wouldn’t be telling you if it was still an issue. We’ve all had therapy, and we’ve all been diagnosed, we’re all possibly the happiest and healthiest we could be considering our past trauma.”

Josh gave them a small smile as they nodded, “come on let’s head inside”.

Josh, Ida, and her boyfriends’ took a seat on the bar stools and watched as Andrew and Neil moved around the kitchen, it was always so mesmerising, the way they moved around each other - they always seemed so in tune with each other.

Josh supposed being on the same Exy team definitely contributed to it, you couldn’t deny that it was a little bit strange but very impressive.

Josh turned to see Willy balancing on the knee of Ida, his hand on her back, gently running up and down. They all were watching Neil and Andrew move around the kitchen, throwing things over their shoulder, and passing knives and ingredients without a word.

Josh could pretend that they had purposefully done this for their visitors, as an act, but this wasn’t something they would do on purpose. This was just Neil and Andrew.

They were very astute people, but when they were in the kitchen together, they were completely oblivious to everyone else. 

It was their space.

It’s when they’re like this that they’re possibly the scariest, purely because you _know_ they would stop at nothing to protect each other. You can see just how much they trust each other, and it’s scary, it’s scary to trust someone that hard.

It’s very clear that they’re a team. It’s very clear that they know each other. And it’s very clear that if they were to work together, they would be absolutely unstoppable.

When Josh warned Oliver, Noah, and Willy about his dads' he wasn’t lying, they are intense, in fact, all of the warnings were genuine. The thing is, they thought he was warning them about the act they were going to be putting on.

Maybe it was partly.

But it was mostly a warning about this.

Andrew and Neil should always come with a warning because once they are in your life, they are in it. Once you earned their love, you were never going to lose it.

When Josh looked towards Ida’s boyfriends, he could tell that it was finally starting to sink in the kind of people they are.

****

Josh stood up from the barstool, looking around noticing that the food was nearly finished, “Hey Ida why don’t you show your boys around the backyard, they’ve only been on the deck,”

Ida gave Josh a suspicious look before shrugging, “yeah alright, come on.”

Josh watched as they disappeared into the backyard, before turning to his dads, Aaron, Katelyn, and Marcus, “how are we looking?”

Andrew rolled his eyes at Josh’s dramatics, turning away to check on the food.

Marcus grinned, quickly looking around frantically, before turning back to them with a wide grin "Sexy and terrifying, but not like we're trying too hard. Like, sure, we're trying, but it's almost effortless.”

Andrew scoffed, shooting Marcus a painful look.

Neil hummed, nodding as he gave Marcus a thoughtful look, “I think we’re doing good. They seem to be scared of us, but in an ‘I respect you’ kind of way, which is good, they know we mean business.”

Aaron nodded in agreement, “yeah, I’m impressed they didn’t just piss right off, or come up with a lame excuse. I think they’re a little wimpy though.”

Katelyn huffed, “I think they’re lovely, they’re also very clearly infatuated by Ida. Which is obviously good”.

Every turned to Andrew, who was leaning against the fridge, arms crossed.

If it was any other group of people, he would have feigned uninterest and mocked them for this whole ordeal.

But it was them, and he knew full well that it would only end up worse for him if he denied his investment in the whole ordeal.

Andrew grunted, “they’re wearing fucking weird-ass clothes, but probably won’t abuse Ida”.

Aaron sighed, closing his eyes, “Christ Andrew, do you have to?”

Andrew looked back at Aaron, “yes”.

Aaron huffed, grabbing the closet plate giving Marcus and Josh pointed looks when they tried to wander off without taking a plate.

Josh grabbed what food was left in the kitchen, before yelling out, “foods ready!”

Rolling his eyes, Neil approached Andrew gently tapping his wrist with a small smile, whispering a soft yes or no.

“Yes,” Andrew answered, his lips brushing lightly against Neil’s.

Neil sighed against his lips, leaning into Andrew's hand grasping the side of Andrew's face, groaning softly as he melted into Andrew.

Pulling back, they rested their foreheads together, listening closely to the sound of each other’s breathing, accompanied by faint chattering in the background. Andrew stepped back grabbing the tray with the roast on it, “come on.”

Neil grinned, grabbing a couple of glasses, following closely behind.

They all took a seat around the table, trays of sausages and salads, with a large plate in the center containing a large roast.

Andrew stood pulling a large glistening knife out and started carving the meat.

The magic of sharp knives is that it makes you look great when you’re cutting things up. However, Josh couldn’t deny that it was pretty impressive to watch the knife slide through the meat like warm butter.

Josh would stand by his point that Andrew and Neil didn’t need to put on an act, themselves as people was enough, however, Josh couldn’t deny the act certainly helped push the point.

Josh ducked his head as he grinned, kicking Marcus lightly as he started to snigger.

Josh rolled his eyes as Anna and Amy started quietly giggling and their antics. Aaron rolled his eyes, at his brother’s dramatics and turned to start a conversation.

“So, any of you play any sports?” Aaron asked, looking vaguely uninterested, but still polite enough for it to pass without question. ~~~~

Oliver nodded, sitting up, “yeah actually we all play in a local community Exy team, you know for fun,” Oliver shrugged a sheepish smile on his face.

Andrew snorted, “fun,” he muttered, rolling his eyes.

Aaron huffed, “sorry what is it you do again?” Aaron pointedly asked, glaring at Andrew.

Andrew pointed his knife at Aaron's throat, “says the ex-addict. Shut the fuck up Mr. strait-laced ‘I’m a doctor’,” Andrew growled.

Aaron rolled his eyes at their shocked faces, “yeah, imagine an ex-addict in your local clinic, scare you?”

Katelyn scowled, smacking Aaron lightly, “don’t be mean,” she scolded.

Aaron rolled his eyes, “Katelyn love, they probably think you’re a dumb blonde who works as a secretary, who’s too dumb to tell when she’s in an abusive relationship.”

Katelyn glared at Aaron, “oh why’s that, because I’m blonde and hot as fuck? Says you Mister blond hair, blue eyes.”

Aaron huffed, “why are you getting angry at me? I’m defending you?” Aaron sighed, closing his eyes, “look all I’m saying we’re more than our trauma.”

Aaron turned to glare at Josh, “next time you’re divulging our childhood trauma, do it a little quieter,” before turning back to Ida’s shellshocked boyfriends.

Aaron sighed, “I’m not mad that you know, I did give permission, really you don’t actually know that much, only surface-level shit. What I am saying though is that we may have ambiguous morals compared to some, and we may be rather crass, and we may have some unsavoury connections,” Aaron gave a pointed look to Neil.

“But when it comes down to it, we’re smart people, I mean I’m a fucking doctor and Katelyn’s a surgeon. And as much as it pains me to admit Andrew and Neil are smart too, we’re not just muscles, glares and powerful connections, we just want what’s best for our family,” Aaron finished quietly, with a pained look on his face.

Andrew finished, carving the roast, and the knife to his throat, while sticking a finger in his throat fake retching, “gross, stop flirting,” he scolded.

Aaron rolled his eyes “Andrew seems to think when Katelyn and I argue we’re flirting,” Aaron explained.

Marcus snorted, “he’s not wrong.”

Aaron scowled, glaring at Marcus. 

Turning back to Noah, Willy, and Oliver, Aaron smirked, “what I was going to say is that Andrew and Neil are professional Exy players”.

Andrew frowned scrunching his nose, “I don’t like that word.”

Aaron stared over at Andrew confused, “what?”

“Exy,” Andrew explained, “bad word,” he explained to Anna and Amy with faux seriousness.”

Anna and Amy giggled, nodding seriously.

Aaron rolled his eyes, “you’re ridiculous.”

Neil huffed amused, “we should play a game after lunch, we have enough space, and I’m sure the girls would love it.”

Marcus choked as he finished chewing his mouthful of food, “dibs being in the same team as Andrew or Neil,” Marcus grinned, “I mean if you’re two are on the same team, I definitely want to be on your team. God knows the other team is fucked,” Marcus laughed.

Willy sat up and let out a surprised gasp, “oh! You’re Josten! _The_ fastest Exy player _ever_ , and you’re _the_ Minyard! The most incredible Exy goalie, in like forever,” Willy exclaimed.

Andrew grumbled, letting out a dramatic huff, “gross I’m trying to eat”.

Ida chuckled lightly and her boyfriend's bewildered expressions, before explaining, “Drew likes to pretend he hates Exy.”

Andrew scoffed, “what makes you think I’m pretending?”

Ida rolled her eyes, turning away from Andrew, “ignore him”.

Andrew huffed, shooting Ida a glare, before turning back to his plate. He had noticed Noah getting increasingly fiddly as the afternoon went on, and he was only growing more and more ~~curious~~ suspicious.

Clearly Ida and the boy toys knew why Noah was so anxious, shooting him encouraging smiles, and silently rubbing his back or holding his hand.

Andrew could admit that if Ida wasn’t worried than it would probably be fine, she had always been irritatingly rationale.

Eventually, Noah sat up a little, clearing his throat, quickly grabbing the attention of everyone at the table.

Noah frowned, looking down at his hands as he picked at the edge of the table cloth, “um, I just wanted to tell you something, and I really hope it doesn’t change your opinions of me because it’s been really nice getting to know you guys, but I understand if it’s an issue for you guys.”

Noah was rambling, quite a lot and at a very high pace, so Andrew nearly missed it when Noah finished with a quick “I’m trans”.

There was silence around the table, as everyone caught up with what Noah had sprouted.

Eventually, Neil spoke, “oh, ok.”

Andrew rolled his eyes, why did he have to marry such an inept human being, turning to an increasing pale Noah, he Andrew sighed, “thank you for telling us Noah, I’m sure that would have been difficult to tell us, but you should know that whether you were transgender, nonbinary or genderfluid, it would never make a difference to us,” Andrew finished.

Andrew turned away uncomfortably as Noah sent him a watery smile, thankfully he was saved by Katelyn.

“oh, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, you were just speaking so fast that it took me a moment to figure out what you said,” she sent a warm smile to Noah, reaching over to squeeze his hand, “just like Andrew said, it makes no difference to us, and thank you for feeling comfortable enough to tell us.”

Noah let out a week laugh, “thank you, it means a lot.”

Noah, groaned as he pressed his palms to his eyes, laughing quietly. Noah looked up as he glanced around the table, quickly making eye contact with a smiling Josh and Marcus.

The table paused as Amy spoke to Aaron, what was supposed to be quiet, but considering the quiet table, everyone heard, “daddy? What’s trans?”

Andrew watched as Noah’s eyes widened and snapped over to Aaron nervously. Aaron sighed, gently stroking Amy’s hair, “it’s when someone who is a girl is born into a boy body, or when someone is a boy born into a girl’s body,” Aaron explained with a small smile.

Anna turned to Noah with a serious look on her face, “it must have been very painful to do a brain transplant, I read about heart and lung transplants, they are very dangerous”. 

Anna scowled as the table laughed, pouting at their reactions. Noah smiled at Anna, quickly answering, “no, I didn’t have a brain transplant. Though I understand why you might think that, I don’t think it’s possible. This was the body I was born with.”

Amy squinted at Noah, before her face cleared, “oh, are you actually a girl's brain?”

Noah smiled, laughing slightly, “no, I was born in a girl body with a boy's brain.”

Anna and Amy gape, “but you don’t have a girl body!”

Noah laughed, “not anymore, but I used to.”

Anna stared at Noah seriously, “you suit being a boy.”

Noah grinned, “thank you.”

Aaron rolled his eyes at his daughters’ antics, before turning to Noah, “if they’re being too invasive just tell them you don’t want to answer, they will understand and respect that,” Aaron explained seriously.

Noah gave Aaron an appreciative smile, “thank you, but honestly, it’s fine. It’s quite refreshing actually,” Noah explained, with a grin.

Amy cleared her throat, pointedly interrupting Aaron as he was about to speak, much to Aaron’s annoyance, but everyone else’s amusement.

Amy turned to Noah, “did you always know that you were a boy?”

Noah hummed, tilting his head in consideration, “I didn’t know for sure until I was 14 or 15.”

Amy gaped, “I might want to become a boy,” she quickly turned to Aaron, her eyes wide, “daddy, what if I want to be a boy?”

Aaron huffed, “well then we’d start the process of making you feel happy in your body”.

Aaron continued before, Amy could speak, “but it’s important to know that it’s what you definitely want, and you have plenty of time to think about it.”

Amy nodded seriously, “I don’t think I want to be a boy, but I’ll keep it in mind,” she looked at Anna thoughtfully, before turning back to Aaron, “I do want some more shorts though.”

Aaron scoffed rolling his eyes, “right, we’ll get onto that.”

Amy giggled as Anna perked up, “I want big stompy boots like Drew!”

Katelyn interrupted, as Aaron sighed for the nth time, “you two have been growing quite a bit, we’ll go for a shop soon, but we can talk about this later, ok?”

Anna and Amy nodded, easily turning back to their plates, completely unaware of the amused looks being shared across the table.

As annoying as children can be, they are great for easing the tension, although, they probably created tension as frequently as they eased it.

Not that Andrew really cared, if tension meant less talking, so be it.

Eventually, everyone had finished, and the table had been cleared.

Andrew sighed, he could only hope they would forget about the Exy game, but unfortunately, Andrew doesn’t often get what he wants.

Almost as if Neil could read his mind (he probably can), he looked over to the group with a huge grin before asking, “who wants to play some Exy”

Andrew’s hope that everyone would refuse, was minimal and quickly squashed by the overwhelming agreement.

Andrew sighed as he wandered over to the shed, if they were going to play Exy, he may as well have some fun with it.

****

Andrew took back every doubt he had about playing Exy before. This was great.

Andrew watched as everyone failed to score on him for the hundredth time, the determination eventually gave way to frustration, then despair.

Andrew had taken Neil aside earlier to explain his plan.

Neil would go on first, Andrew wouldn’t play at first, and one of Ida’s boys would be in the goal, and they would watch their dreams shatter as they fruitlessly attempted at stopping Neil scoring.

Then Neil would sub out, to give others a chance to score, and Andrew would sub in on goalie, and completely shatter their dreams once again.

One they realised they had no chance; Neil would come on and they would show how truly terrifying real Exy is up close.

And to spice it up, they decided against telling Josh, Marcus, and Ida.

Next time Aaron teased them for being domestic and acting like an old married couple (even when they’re old, they’re _never_ going to be an old married couple), Andrew will be sure to bring this up.

Whoever claims that they never spiced up their marriage, is wrong.

Neil shot Oliver and Willy a grin as they leaned over their knees heaving, as Josh quickly ran on shuffling Noah off the ‘court’, of whom closely resembled a dead starfish.

Marcus elbowed Ida nudging for her attention, pointing to Neil who was stretching in preparation (much to Andrew’s appreciation).

Marcus walked over to Oliver, Willy, and Noah, handing them each a glass of water.

Marcus sighed, slumping next to Willy, “this is something you’ll wanna watch. If you think they’re impressive on tv, just you wait, because holy shit it’s something else to see them play in person”.

Marcus frowned as he watched Neil drag random chairs and tables, along with a stay bike, skateboard, and umbrella stand.

Before Marcus could think too hard about it Willy responded grinning, “well they certainly don’t need to impress me, cause I’m already very impressed.”

Oliver poked his head around willy’s shoulder, “honestly we’d be impressed by anything, while we say we play Exy, mostly we play for 30 mins, then play D&D”.

Marcus laughed as Noah rolled his eyes at his boyfriends. “Well,” Marcus continued, “all I’ve got to say is there’s’ definitely a reason they’ve gone pro”.

They all turned their attention back to Andrew and Neil when Andrew smacked his stick against the makeshift goal three times.

That was all Neil needed.

It was at this point it became obvious why Neil had been dragging the outdoor furniture all over the place. He had made himself an obstacle course.

Because shooting against the best Goalkeeper in the league clearly wasn’t hard enough.

Neil scooped up the ball and shot off at an incredible speed, bouncing the ball off the side of their house, leaping over a bike, swerving around an umbrella stand, and catching the ball.

He quickly threw it to the other side of the backyard, bouncing it off their back fence, jumping onto the table and whacking a chair out of the way, swiftly catching the ball mid-air.

They watched in amazement as Neil pivoted on the spot mid-air, and shot towards the goal on the side closest to him and furthest way from Andrew, Letting it bounce against the umbrella pole and rebound into what would have been the goal if Andrew had been .2 seconds slower.

Andrew’s arm had shot out, probably further than his height, his arm didn’t move a smidge as he caught the ball flying at full speed.

It was deafeningly silent as they all watched on in shock.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?”

“are you kid- ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?”

“I think that gave me a boner… holy shit”

“I think I should quit Exy… actually no, I’ll just quit life”

Josh leaped up running towards his dads', “that was _so_ cool, absolutely incredible, hot and immaculate”.

Andrew sighed walking away from the goal, giving an indifferent look, as Willy, Oliver, and Noah gaped.

Noah frowned looking Andrew up and down, “I thought- I thought you hated Exy?”

Andrew scowled, “yes”.

Noah stuttered, “b-but how can you hate it if you’re so good?”

Andrew rolled his eyes walking away.

Willy shot up, running over to Andrew, “wait can you two play another round? You guys were _really_ good”.

Andrew growled, “no more Exy”.

Marcus frowned turning towards Andrew, then shooting an amused looking Neil a pleading look, “wait, what? Why not? Just one more?”

Andrew scowled, looking towards the group of 5 pleading teens, “no”.

Josh opened his mouth about to complain, before Andrew held up his Goalkeeper stick (the only one they have at home), and promptly snapped it in half.

Josh’s mouth clicked shut, as Willy, Noah, and Oliver’s eyes widened in alarm, as their faces rapidly paled.

Neil only rolled his eyes at Andrew dramatics, taking the now two sticks from Andrew, inspecting the clean snap with a raised brow, then taking it back to the shed.

Andrew raised his brow as Aaron also watched on vaguely alarmed, amused, and impressed. After killing a man with a striker’s stick (even the heaviest kinds of striker’s sticks are light compared to the lightest goalkeeper stick) and not even making a dent, Aaron was impressed. 

Clearly Ida’s boy toys, along with Josh and Marcus, also knew the incredible strength of goalkeepers’ sticks, and naturally was very alarmed when Andrew could snap on clean in half with little to no struggle.

Not to mention they had all used that stick moments ago, and (not that they’d ever admit to it) struggled occasionally to lift it or move it with any speed or agility.

Andrew rolled his eyes turning away and walking back into the house.

He would say today had been a decent day.

****

Neil, Andrew, and Josh simultaneously collapsed on the couch, letting out a long sigh.

It had been a long day, scratch that, it had been an exhausting day. But it had been successful.

Ida, Noah, Willy, and Oliver had left all of 5 minutes ago, and Aaron, Katelyn, and the girls had followed closely behind, taking Marcus with them to drop him off. 

Neil groaned as he dropped his head onto Andrew’s shoulder, yawning as he slouched against him, “so, what did you think of them?”

Josh hummed, from his place on Andrew’s thigh, idly scratching his nose, “they were nice, they seem to really like Ida, and they were very respectful, whilst not being pushovers,” Josh sighed, yawning, before continuing, “Oliver was very funny and could talk about anything, Noah was very nice and I felt like I could tell him I like to suck toes before bed and he wouldn’t judge me, and willy was super nice and very easy to talk with”.

Neil nodded humming, “I like them, I think”.

Andrew sighed as they both looked towards him, “they were nice I suppose, and they didn’t piss me off too much,” Andrew paused in consideration, “their clothes pissed me off, but most people’s clothes piss me off, in fact, I married someone who dresses to piss me off, but I digress”.

Neil grinned, grabbing Andrews’ hand, gently rubbing the callouses on Andrew’s palm, “Ida’s happy, I think that’s what most important.”

Andrew huffed, Neil could tell he was rolling his eyes, “I need a shower”.

Neil grinned pecking Andrew’s cheek, “don’t walk away, we know just as well as you do that this was for Ida more than anyone”.

Andrew grumbled at Josh’s sniggering, pushing Neil away, “shut up”.

Neil grinned, “I think it was really lovely, we all know that you did this for Ida, we know that it was to cement the fact that she’s part of the family, and to emphasise to Ida that she would always be part of the family.”

Andrew glared at Neil, “I hate you, shut up.”

Josh interrupted before Neil could respond, “no dad’s right, I know that if I had any doubt about the permanency of my place in this family, it would be thwarted by what you two did today,” Josh sighed, “I know it probably wasn’t that much to you, I can honestly say, it would have meant a lot to Ida.”

Andrew sighed, “I know, now shut the fuck up and go to bed you little horror.”

Josh grinned, standing up wrapping Andrew in a tight hug, muttering into his shoulder “ok dad, I love you,” before shuffling over to Neil, hugging him, and running up the stairs.

Neil smiled softly at Andrew, “come, I think its bedtime for us as well”.

Andrew sighed heavily leaning into Neil, his eyes betraying him as they followed up to where Josh disappeared, “thank you for giving me a family”.

Neil smiled softly at Andrew, “you’re very welcome Andrew, but you know as well as I do that you already had a family, I just made it bigger, so I should thank you I suppose for giving _me_ a family”.

Andrew grunted, walking towards their bedroom, he’d done more than enough talking for the day.

Besides, Neil already knows anything he could say.

It was nice, Andrew supposed, having a family, settling down, being happy.

Bee would probably cry if he told her that.

lucky he’d never admit it aloud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHAT DO THINK? let me know! I love all the comments receive and try to reply to them all. 
> 
> honestly, I had no idea how to end this??? but oh well 
> 
> thankyou all who have stuck through with this series, and my irregular updates.... please comment any suggestions for this series or even any ideas for Marcus, I'll definitely look into them :) 
> 
> you can stalk me on [my Tumblr](https://im-really-confused121.tumblr.com)
> 
> once again, all my motivation comes from your responses, so let me know what you think :)
> 
>   
> Edit: I accidentally uploaded like a paragraph? Anyway sorry lol 
> 
> DISCLAIMER:  
> the discussion and explanation of being transgender is very simple, and certainly may not be the experience of all, be accurate in the science behind it, or how people like to explain it. it is a VERY general explanation, however, I purposefully did it like that because it was intended as a simple explanation for children. As someone who is cis-gendered, I honestly hope i haven't offended anyone, if I have please just let me know, and I'll fix it ASAP


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